Two

"Ginny, I need to run to Diagon Alley and pick up a few things, mind the house while I'm away!" Mrs. Weasley yelled up to her daughter who was practicing complicated chaser maneuvers.

"Sure," panted Ginny.

"And be careful!"

"Okay!"

"Honestly, going to break her neck," muttered Mrs. Weasley.

Not long after her mother left Ginny decided she was done for the day and made her way past a couple dozen dizzied garden gnomes to the kitchen. She pulled open the icebox just to see a very cold Pigwidgeon on top of the pumpkin juice. Ginny blinked and pulled the tiny owl out.

Pig placed two letters on the kitchen table and shakily flew out the window. Ginny picked up the letters excitedly; one was addressed to her parents, and one to her.

Ginny had just sat down to read her letter when her mother burst from the fireplace.

"That was awfully quick-," Ginny started.

"I swear I don't know whether to kill that boy or hug him!"

"Did Ron-"

"To go and do something like that, honestly that boy is too kind for his own good!"

"Of course we're not, dear. In Sirius' will he left everything to Harry. Harry, bless him, sent part of the Black's fortune to us. I tried to give it back but the goblins at Gringotts mumbled something about signed documents and said I couldn't," finished Mrs. Weasley.

"Well, how much did he give us?" asked Ginny slowly.

"That boy," muttered Mrs. Weasley, "gave us five million Galleons. He made us rich."

Ginny could see tears well up in her mother's eyes. ‘How many times had I wished for something like this to happen?' wondered Ginny.

"This is… is… just wonderful," whispered Ginny.

Mrs. Weasley's sobbing turned into choking laughter.

"Arthur's never going to believe it!" she shouted. Ginny just laughed and enjoyed seeing the blissful look on her mother's face.

With a slight hop in her step, Mrs. Weasley retreated to the kitchen to prepare lunch, but was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Ginny and her mother both tensed slightly, wizarding houses usually do not have callers at their front doors.

"Er, it's just me," said the voice behind the door. ‘That voice sounds familiar,' thought Ginny, ‘kind of rough and deep, but soft..'

Ginny's musing were halted when her mother threw open the door to reveal a timid looking Harry Potter.

"Er, Dumbledore said it would be okay to leave the Dursleys. So can I please stay here?" Harry mumbled rather nervously.

"Of course you can! But I wonder why he didn't ask us to get you…Anyway, of course you can stay Harry."

Over Harry's shoulder, Ginny could see a large coal-colored motorbike.

"I didn't want to impose, I wasn't invited," Harry said as Mrs. Weasley threw her arms around him.

"Oh Harry, you are always welcome here. This is your home."

Harry just embraced Mrs. Weasley tighter and Ginny was pleased to note the smile on his face.

"Ron's not here as you know, but do come in."

Nothing more was spoken of the Weasley's new-found wealth until dinner that day. Harry and Ginny had been listening to an interesting story about bewitched door-knockers from Mr. Weasley when, in a flurry of feathers, two barn owls dropped a couple parcels and left. Upon closer examination, Harry noticed they were shaped rather like a certain parcel he received in his first year.

Mrs. Weasley took one of the packages and handed it to Ginny.

"Open it, I decided to get you an early birthday present."

Ginny gaped at her for a moment before unwrapping the paper delicately and opening the box. Inside, was a brand new, gleaming Nimbus 2001.

"Oh, Mum thank you so much. I honestly don't know what to say," Ginny whispered in disbelief.

"I got Ron a similar model, but the shopkeeper said it was better for Keepers. I expect you and him to put those brooms to good use at Hogwarts next term," Mrs. Weasley said with a big smile.

"I guess some new reading material might be nice for this summer." Harry felt immensely better; he had really thought the Weasleys would take it worse than this. In fact, he felt rather happy.

Later that night Harry was in Ron's room, feeling rather odd as he was putting his own clothes into Ron's drawers. Harry was feeling rather glad he was able to help out the Weasleys with their ever-present money trouble. He was extremely happy they would never have to worry about money again. The only trouble was now thinking of the Weasleys directly lead to thinking about Sirius, a subject Harry did not wish to dwell on.

"Hey can I come in?"

Harry whirled around to see Ginny leaning casually against Ron's doorframe, an envelope held loosely in her hand.

"I know you're probably sick and tired of hearing that. But, I really appreciate everything you've done for me… and my family." Her tone caught Harry from his fascination of the color-coding and he looked into her eyes.

She looked up at him with an emotion twinkling in her eyes that Harry had never seen before. She looked so innocent, and something else Harry couldn't quite put his finger on. Intrigued, Harry stepped closer to Ginny, looking closer at the object of his curiosity. Her eyes were dark, but not intensely so. They were dark chocolate near the pupil, and growing outward the color spiraled into a golden honey. Harry vaguely realized he had stopped thinking about anything else as he looked harder and closer.

"Harry?"

"Hmm? Oh, er, sorry."

"Right, well how about this letter?"

"Sure, I can't wait to hear this." Harry grinned. Ginny grinned too as they sat down on Ron's bed to open Ron's letter.

"'Dear Ginny,'" Ginny read, "'I hope you're doing fine at home. You aren't bored are you?' Oh he cares now does he? ‘California is great. Hermione about strangled me on the plane though.'"

"I can imagine that," laughed Harry.

With a smile Ginny continued, "'It took forever on the bloody thing. And it wasn't my fault I got bored, bloody Muggle movie they played was awful. Anyway, California is so different from anywhere I've ever been! The Muggles there walk around wearing hardly any clothing on them. Apparently, I'm not to look as I can tell Hermione gets angry when I do. Her aunt and uncle's house is really amazing; it sits right on the ocean and is enormous. We've gone in the ocean everyday now and Hermione taught me how to make sand castles; I'm working on a Hogwarts sand castle right now. Anyway, we really haven't done much other than that so far, I'll write you some more. Love, My lucky brother, Ron'" Ginny finished with a sigh.

"Well, sounds like he's having fun," said Harry as he stretched his back.

"Yeah, I just can't wait to hear Hermione's letters, I'm sure they will be much more descriptive," Ginny replied.

"Oh, right. Well, I suppose its getting rather late, good night Harry," Ginny said quickly.

"Goodnight," he called after her. But Harry really wished she hadn't left he didn't want to be alone with Sirius on his mind.

His godfather's death did not weigh on his mind for too long however, as he noticed about half of his socks were gone.

It was rather late in the morning when Harry woke up. Stretching lazily Harry noticed how comfortable Ron's bed was. Eventually, the faint smell of sizzling sausage gave Harry enough encouragement to get up and get dressed. To Harry's surprised, Ginny was cooking breakfast.

"Oh, good morning Harry, Mum and Dad had to go do something for the Order. She left a note saying we were to go to Diagon Alley today. But we're to be careful!" Ginny said with emphasis, although with a smile. She was balancing several frying pans and sporting a very old and stained apron. Harry thought the look was rather endearing.

"Sounds fun to me, thanks for cooking breakfast," supplied Harry as Ginny set a plate in front of him.

"No problem Harry, cooking is rather easy for anyone in a family this large."

"So, how is it being the only one left in the Burrow, Ginny?" asked Harry as Ginny took her own plate and sat down next to him.

"Truthfully, it's horrible. It's the worst when Mum and Dad have to leave. There's no noise, no fun, and Mum is on my case ten times more than usual. But it isn't all bad, the privacy is nice a lot of the time," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it feels weird even to me, I'm sure it's quite a bit harder for you."

"It's not so bad," admitted Ginny, "I mean it's nothing to complain about. There are tons of people who have more problems. So I think I don't think I should complain about anything."

‘Is thisreallyGinny?' Harry wondered, ‘she has so much to say.'

"Well, yeah some people have bigger problems. But, you can't worry about other people constantly. It'll leave you angry and depressed. Sometimes you can't help at all, you can try and try, but you cannot help them. Voldemort taught me this," Harry finished quietly.

"True, you can't always succeed. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Sirius died trying to help you," she paused as Harry winced, "but that isn't an excuse to quit trying. You always help people, Harry, you always care. That's what makes you special," Ginny smiled gently.

"Don't you mean us? You care too; you're special Ginny."

"We should clean up," whispered Ginny.

After the dishes were clean, Harry and Ginny were ready to go to Diagon Alley.

"Have you ever been to Diagon Alley alone before, Ginny?"

"Well, not really," Ginny replied somewhat nervously.

"Don't worry about it; I lived in Diagon Alley for awhile before my third year."

"That must have been really great," Ginny declared.

"Yeah it was," mumbled Harry as he remembered how happy he was living on his own. He grabbed some Floo powder and with a flash of green and a wink, was gone.

Ginny smiled slightly, it was good to be around Harry Potter.

"The Leaky Cauldron!"

Ginny tumbled out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron only to fall into Harry's solid frame. Harry grunted slightly and closed his arms around her.

"Got you," he said.

Ginny was just about to apologize when she saw that Harry was blushing.

‘Blushing?' wondered Ginny.

"Sorry," muttered Harry as he released her. Together Harry and Ginny left the poorly lit pub and entered Diagon Alley.